Kamala Harris is weighing her next step. Could it be vice president?

By Astead W. Herndon

The New York Times|

May 11, 2020 | 1:32 PM

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) addresses a news conference about paid leave for victims of the coronavirus, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 12, 2020. Harris is considered a potential running mate for Joe Biden, but unlike other possible contenders, she has avoided making a pitch for the ticket. (Pete Marovich/The New York Times)

Six years ago, when President Barack Obama had to replace his departing attorney general, he offered the job to Kamala Harris, who led the California Justice Department — the first woman to occupy that role in its history.

Harris declined the promotion for several reasons, according to advisers from the time. She had not served a full term. She had her sights set on a higher profile in the Senate or as governor of California. Some envisioned a future presidential run. In that view, the job was a political dead end for a motivated and barrier-breaking figure. It also highlighted a personal trait: She would not be pressured into a position she did not want.

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Today, Harris — now a senator from California who ran for president last year — finds herself at another political crossroads and is approaching it with similar caution. Although she is among the favorites to become Joe Biden’s vice-presidential nominee, joining him on the Democratic ticket to try to defeat President Donald Trump, she has kept a noticeably lower profile than other possible contenders.

In several interviews, Harris has said she would be “honored” to serve with Biden, but there is no public campaign similar to that carried out by Stacey Abrams, the former candidate for governor in Georgia. There is no surrogate lobbying effort like the one for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, which includes direct polling presentations. Instead, even people close to Biden — often bombarded with pleas from those vying to be his running mate — have remarked about how little they have heard from Harris and her allies.

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Allies of Harris said she was taking the conventional, low-key route to being considered for vice president, rather than appearing to deliberately audition, with the hope that this approach more closely suits a traditionalist like Biden.

Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who endorsed Harris in the Democratic primary race, said Harris’ Washington backers believe that the running mate will not be selected by public audition, and that her presidential campaign and executive qualifications will speak for themselves.

“For some of us big Kamala Harris supporters, although we’re making our case when asked, there’s no active campaign toward the VP slot,” Gallego said. “And I don’t know if that’s actually necessary.”

This does not mean she isn’t privately maneuvering, according to more than a dozen people familiar with her activities or with Biden’s search for a vice president. Harris, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has dedicated the five months since she ended her campaign to housecleaning steps meant to position her better for what comes next: whether it’s a vice-presidential bid, a longer career in the Senate, a run for governor or a position like attorney general in a Biden administration.

A sprawling presidential team that at times ill-served Harris has been pared down to a few loyalists — a close-knit circle of mostly women led by Rohini Kosoglu, who worked on her presidential campaign, and Sabrina Singh, a veteran of Sen. Cory Booker’s campaign. Harris has also begun working with the respected Washington operative Mindy Myers, a former executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee who advised Warren early in her Senate tenure. Policy-wise, Harris has used her Senate position to highlight racial disparities in those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. She has proposed legislation with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to provide financial relief to those impacted by coronavirus and a bill with Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts focusing on small businesses.

Politically most important, Harris has sought to strengthen her personal connections with Biden and those close to him, a critical step for a man who prizes personal relationships and inner-circle trust. The closest rungs of Harris’ inner circle, including her sister, Maya, and her sister’s husband, Tony West, are power brokers who can act as intermediaries. And she has kept close people like Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina; the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist and television host; and a cohort of black female officials who supported her presidential run. Clyburn is set to work with Harris on another coronavirus-related bill soon.

After The New York Times reported that Sharpton was set to publicly endorse Abrams for vice president, some supporters of Harris took issue. In a follow-up interview, Sharpton said he was now refraining from going public and would deliver his preferences to Biden’s selection committee.

Of Harris, Sharpton said, “I think that Joe Biden would be hard pressed to explain why he would not offer something substantial to Kamala Harris, given her popularity.”

Harris has also overcome one critical obstacle in Biden’s orbit: the opposition of his wife, Jill Biden, according to people familiar with her thinking. Jill Biden, who as recently as early March had publicly criticized Harris for her bruising attack on Joe Biden in their first Democratic presidential debate, recently told those close to her that the perception that she was personally opposed to Harris was overblown.

Since that time, Jill Biden has posted supportive messages of Harris on social media.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, one of Biden’s early supporters in the 2020 race, said it should be clear from Harris’ endorsing and campaigning for Biden that their clash last year would not be a factor in his decision on a running mate.

“The vice president and his team knew full well the primary was going to be tough going in and that every candidate was in it to win,” Coons said. “And the openheartedness and the genuineness with which Senator Harris has endorsed the vice president, embraced him and supported him, is all that matters now.”

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Among Harris’ backers, because there is no uniform effort to pitch her to Biden, there is also no consensus opinion that being the running mate is the role she most desires. After three years in the Senate, Harris has been frustrated by the bureaucracy of Washington and has mused to allies about missing the control afforded to her in executive positions such as attorney general of California and as district attorney of San Francisco.

In one conversation, with a political figure who requested anonymity to discuss a candid conversation, Harris said she would consider the role of attorney general in Biden’s administration if she was not selected as vice president. Others are adamant that such political prognostication is not how Harris operates. The only role she has publicly confirmed interest in is vice president.

“This is a moment, when you think about the bench of black women figures, that’s historic,” said Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of the political group BlackPAC, a super PAC focused on African-American Democrats. “And any of those would stand out as completely capable of doing the job of vice president and helping to manage and navigate this country.”

There is no concrete evidence that selections of vice presidents sway general elections, but supporters of Harris make a multipronged case for why she would help Biden. They argue that the criticism she received during the primary race from progressives and criminal justice activists distorted a national brand with cross-ideological and demographic appeal.

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Harris’ internal polling from the presidential race showed that voters had a favorable opinion of the senator across Democratic strongholds, but that she was viewed most favorably among black women, liberal women and young people. While Warren appeals to progressives, Abrams may motivate younger black voters and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota shows strength among suburban whites, those who argue for Harris say she motivates slices of each group.

Biden has also faced significant pressure to select a black woman as his running mate, and Harris — more than Abrams, members of the House like Rep. Val Demings of Florida or the former national security adviser Susan E. Rice — is perhaps the only black woman with unquestioned legislative and national experience.

That will not be enough for everyone, warned Leah D. Daughtry, a former chief executive of the Democratic National Convention. Although she personally believes that any of the black women in the running would be a welcome addition to Biden’s ticket, she said, the critics who hounded Harris during the primary race are not likely to go away.

“For some people, it will not be enough — but you can say that about anyone,” Daughtry said. “There will be those who will say, ‘Well, she didn’t get through the first time, so why would she help now?”

David Binder, Harris’ pollster in the presidential election, said he was often asked that exact question: “She ended up 3 or 4 or 5% in the polls before she dropped out. So how could she be a motivating factor for Democrats in general?”

“It really is a situation now which we’ve moved from the preliminary rounds to the final,” Binder said. “And you do see more enthusiasm for a member of the ticket who represents the future — it is a different scenario from the primary when Democratic voters were looking for the candidate most able to beat Donald Trump.

The dual possibilities that Harris faces — that she could become the first black woman selected as a vice-presidential nominee and that many in her own party would remain critical — speak to her unique political position. She was among the presidential candidates whose campaign fell furthest from expectations. But she also mounted a campaign more viable than that of almost any woman of color before her.